ALL WOMEN LIVING IN TEXAS SHOULD JUST PACK-UP& LEAVE

 

…The “OOPS” Governor of Texas, Rick Perry at the fair

Texas women are required to take more health risks than women from other states.

OK, two comments.  I have written more than one column that criticizes the way the Red State of Texas does their politics and their business.  And not being a woman, I have also tried to stay away from the issues of abortion rights.  Well, as of today, I’m once again going after Texas, but this time, I’m taking on their latest decisions regarding the abortion laws in Texas.

Over the last two decades, different states, mostly in the South, have had a field day enacting what I think are illegal anti-abortion restrictions.  But this time, Texas has gone to a point that seriously endangers women by making access to abortion more than just difficult.  I’m sure that their latest new laws will lead to later-term abortions, and obviously riskier procedures.

Abortion rights groups have denounced the latest ruling, and Ms. Kate Michelman, previous president of the National Abortion Rights Action League called it, “Devastating for women,” and “One step closer to the back alleys.”

“The fact is that these bills will not help protect the health of any woman in Texas. Instead, these bills will harm women’s health in very clear ways,” the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said in an open letter to Texas legislators. “The fact is that abortion is one of the safest medical procedures, with minimal, less than 0.5%,  risk of major complications that might need hospital care.”

So, what’s the new decision that has caused all the turmoil?

Well first, a federal appeals court upheld the doctor’s "admitting-privileges" part of the law, which has led to many Texas clinics closing.

 

…Abortion demonstrations in Austin, Texas

Last Thursday, the same Texas court refused to block their required surgical-clinic standards . That provision of the law remains on appeal, but the court said it was likely to be upheld. In practice, these rulings mean that about one in six Texas women seeking an abortion will now live more than 150 miles, and up to 300 miles from the nearest clinic. In fact, there will be no facilities in this huge state west and south of San Antonio.

The remaining clinics will not be able to handle the resulting increased demand.  To do so, they would have to increase the number of abortions performed by a factor of “4”, in order to just keep up.

According to the courts, this is supposed to be “in the interest of protecting Texas women’s health”…..really?

Last year, Republican Governor Rick Perry signed the law requiring that doctors who perform abortions have to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.  Also that facilities at which abortions are performed must meet the hospital-level standards for ambulatory surgical clinics. In other words, Perry was saying “I want these clinics closed today!”

But, of course, the overall reason for this law is to impede any access to abortion, regardless of the woman’s need for the procedure.  This is the obvious point of the law. In that regard, it is a highly effective law. Two years ago, the big state of Texas had over 40 facilities that were capable of performing abortions. Based on this latest decision, the number is about to be reduced to 7…or less.

In allowing the highly restrictive surgical-clinic standards to take effect, the appeals court cited language from the Supreme Court’s 1992 ruling that an abortion restriction "would be unconstitutional" if, “in a large fraction of the cases in which it is relevant, it will operate as a substantial obstacle to a woman’s choice to undergo an abortion.”

Since when is having to drive 150 to 300 miles for obtaining an abortion due to a medical necessity not an unnecessary and undue obstacle?

The appeals court in this Texas case got it totally and now, dangerously wrong.

But what is potentially a whole lot worse is if this same appeals court is asked again to rule on any future abortion laws in Texas, or what they think is an undue women’s burden. 

My recommendation is that all the women in the “Red” state of Texas should just pack their bags, and move to any near-by “Blue” state.     

Copyright G.Ater  2014